Sound Off: If they hit you ...

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The following is what our readers sounded off about this week:

If they hit you

I heard that the people who came here illegally can now get driver’s licenses. Do you honestly think that they’re going to learn how to drive? Do you honestly think they are going to get insurance? Most of them do not have insurance, and if they hit you, your insurance will go up. Good politicians … not.

Up the wall

I’ve been a community activist for many, many years, and I send emails to Congress and the Legislature on a regular basis. Since Obama has been elected, one of the things I’ve noticed about the emails that are sent – I’ve always sent a copy back to myself – it’s always labeled spam. So my question is, are all of our citizen emails to our Legislature and to Obama labeled spam?

And how many of these are read by any of these individuals? No wonder Congress has a lower rating than cockroaches and head lice. No wonder. I’m not the only person who would notice this kind of thing, and I try to listen to everybody’s side of the story. But this drives me up the wall, to think that any kind of thing that we, the citizens, might have sent to the White House or legislators aren’t even read.

It goes to show you how much they value our opinion. I think they’re even lower than head lice and cockroaches – at least head lice and cockroaches know how to survive. These people are killing themselves by their attitudes or arrogance. I think we need to impeach every one of them ... .

But for the grace of God

Shame on all of you who are so against the proposed rehab center in Campton Township. Suppose you had a loved one with a very dire illness, whether it be alcoholism, drug addiction or cancer. I can’t believe you wouldn’t want them to get help and return to you. Where should they go to accomplish this? Maybe another city, county or state? Maybe another country? Maybe the isle of Alba? Where are your hearts? And would you really be OK with people worrying about their property values against the value of your loved one’s life? Remember, there but for the grace of God … .

Safety is stressed

I wanted to pass along to a lot of people who don’t understand, the state of Illinois has a law that requires every gun owner – and I’m a previous skeet shooter and trap shooter; it’s competitive and a lot of fun, and I was in the military, too, as a weapons instructor – but you must have a Firearm Owner’s Identification card. And that has your picture on it, and information on it matches your driver’s license.

Without the FOID card, you cannot buy any firearms or ammunition. They do a background check, and it’s done by the state police. I would like to let people know. A lot of people don’t seem to understand the rules. If you’re a criminal, you can’t get the FOID card. Safety is stressed to the maximum.

Think about this

I heard that there was a candlelight vigil for the Sandy Hook kids here in Batavia. I just wanted to bring up a few things.

No. 1: Law-abiding citizens should have a right to bear arms, and when these tragedies happen – and it was a tragedy –we need to look outside of what went on there. I would suggest that we start teaching our children survival. We teach them what we can do if some idiot comes into their room and decides that he’s going to attack them in any way. And he could attack them in any way.

It doesn’t have to be just guns. He could come with knives, machetes, all of this, and if we don’t teach the kids to act in a survival-type manner, these kids will be just as dead, and it doesn’t matter whether he’s got a machete or a knife or a gun or whatever. We can’t keep teaching our kids to roll over and play dead.

When you have 20 kids in a classroom, and there’s a threat in your classroom where you can’t run and hide, those kids all have weapons at their disposal, and those weapons can be their books, their desks, their chairs, anything. And when you’ve got 20 people pushing toward the person who is trying to attack them, they’re going to limit whatever casualty there could be.

Think about this. You’ve got 20 people in a classroom and they’re all pushing their desks toward you. You really think you have a chance?

How silly of Illinois

In the grocery store, the heavyset, possibly pregnant woman in front of me pulled out her wallet with cash, but she did not pay for her groceries with cash, but with her Link card, which, of course, is Illinois food stamps. She did not use her cash for groceries, but instead used her cash in the lottery machine. You see, the Illinois taxpayer helps low-income people play the lottery, and I bet her little child receives free meals at school also. How silly of Illinois. I watched her in the parking lot, loading her groceries into a nice car. Illinois is so happy to help those who vote for Democrats. The rest of us are silly to stay in Illinois.

You must be responsible

My husband has been shooting guns for sport since he was 16 years old. He followed every Illinois law while purchasing and using the guns he has acquired, which includes safety classes, background checks, the waiting period and the FOID card for Illinois.

He was in a teen sharpshooting club, and it gave him confidence and he learned safe sportsmanship. Now he belongs to a club and hunts pheasants and quail with his friends and our dog. We eat the food he brings home; it does not go to waste.

People seem to be equating the extreme shooting and killing with all guns, and that is so not true. You must be a responsible owner. Chicago has a gang and violence problem like several large cities do.

Also, even though mental illness is hard to detect, I must stress stronger background checks would be very helpful.

We do not need the high-capacity magazine clips and extremely forceful and powerful guns. They should be banned, and we must reinforce strong background checks. We must either shut down gun shows where anyone can freely buy a gun of choice with no background check, or make them follow the rules that govern Illinois ... background checks, waiting period and FOID card.

Recently a man got out of jail, went to a gun show and bought a gun and one week later shot two people. That would have been prevented with a background check.

It is clear changes need to be made. We must do them while protecting the Second Amendment, freedom to bear arms for protection.

My husband says he will give up his guns gladly when [President] Barack Obama’s security team gives up theirs.

Good luck

If you are a senior citizen and on Medicare, I strongly suggest that you talk to your family physician on your next visit about what he or she plans to do when Obamacare comes on full force in the next year or so.

I have discussed this matter with two local doctors who are in two different medical groups, and they both have indicated that they will be unable to afford to take Medicare patients under the new federal regulations. Good luck finding a doctor in your later years.

A great experience

Thank you to the Geneva Park District for assembling the ice rinks at Wheeler Park.

At a time when these programs could be placed on the chopping block, they continue to provide a great experience for our residents.

• You can sound off, as well, by calling our Sound Off line at 630-845-5240 or by sending an e-mail to soundoff@kcchronicle.com. Calls must be limited to 1 minute or less.